13/07/2015
Dr Steph Hester, [email protected]
Avoiding Death by Plagiarism!
Plagiarism and Academic Plagiarism
Types of Plagiarism
Quoting Effectively
Assumed Knowledge
Turnitin
In this presentation
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The philosophy behind plagiarism
• The purpose of academic research has been defined by the
HERDC as:
‘the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of
existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as
to generate new concepts … and understandings.’
Why is this relevant to plagiarism?
University of Adelaide
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Scholars stand on the shoulders of giants
• Good scholarship – academic integrity – involves
acknowledging the sources you are using to create ‘new’
perspectives
• Plagiarism means kidnapping. When you don’t
acknowledge where you get your ‘scholarly’ ideas from,
it’s like taking them from someone else
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What is plagiarism?
• Plagiarism can be tricky to define.
• For the sake of brevity, let’s say there are several types:
– Cut and paste plagiarism
– Use of phrasing / key ideas
Each of these types of plagiarism can be non-voluntary (to an
extent). They are still, however, considered plagiarism by the
University.
University of Adelaide
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University of Adelaide Academic Honesty
Policy
• Key principles:
– a) Assessment is an aid to learning and involves obligations on
the part of students to make it effective.
– b) Academic honesty is an essential component of teaching,
learning and research and is fundamental to the very nature of
universities.
– c) Academic writing is evidence-based, and the ideas and work of
others must be acknowledged and not claimed or presented as
one's own, either deliberately or unintentionally.
– http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230/
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Examples of plagiarism
• The Anzac spirit is not uniquely Australian. It is universal. At
its best, it is not a national but a human quality. It is found in
Palestine and Iraq, in Darfur and East Timor, in Afghanistan
and Zimbabwe. If it lives, it lives far from the flag-waving and
breast-beating nationalism of recent times, far from the
celebration of our national values and the birth of the
Australian nation.
• (Excerpt from McKenna, M, 2007. ‘Patriot act’. Australian
Literary Review, vol. 1, no.6, pp. 15-17)
University of Adelaide
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Cut and paste plagiarism
• The Anzac spirit is not uniquely Australian. It is universal. At
its best, it is not a national but a human quality. It is found in
Palestine and Iraq, in Darfur and East Timor, in Afghanistan
and Zimbabwe. If it lives, it lives far from the flag-waving and
breast-beating nationalism of recent times, far from the
celebration of our national values and the birth of the
Australian nation.
• At its best, the Anzac Spirit is a human quality.
• As Mckenna (2007, p.17) argues, the Anzac Spirit is, ‘at
its best…a human quality.’
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Random Use of Phrasing / Key Ideas
• It’s important to note that even when you
are just referring to an idea that you have
read about, you still acknowledge the author
of the idea.
• The Anzac Spirit actually appears everywhere.
• It could be said that the Anzac Spirit actually appears
everywhere (see for example McKenna 2007, p.17)
• As McKenna argues, the Anzac Spirit appears
everywhere (2007, p.17).
University of Adelaide
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Referencing an entire work
• When you are talking about the overall work
(such as a book) or research interests of a
scholar you can just reference that book.
• McKenna (2007) is interested in the dark side of
patriotism.
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Quoting / referring to sources
• It’s important to get used to key terms when quoting
sources.
• PICTURE OF MYUNI RESOURCES
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Using sources lets you enter the
conversation
• By telling a very moving story about an Iraqi officer who
sacrifices his life to save others, McKenna demonstrates the
universality of heroism (2007, p.17).
• McKenna seems to let his emotions get the better of him in his
article about the “universal” nature of the so-called Anzac
Spirit, linking it to “flag-waving and breast-beating
nationalism” (2007, p. 17).
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Assumed Knowledge
• There are some things that can be said to be assumed knowledge and to
not need referencing; you wouldn’t, for example, cite the date World
War II broke out (as scholars agree it was September 1939) or the fact
that Sydney is in NSW.
• ‘Assumed Knowledge’ is a tricky term, however. The excellent Purdue
Owl resource has a list of ‘Assumed Knowledge’ points, including:
– ‘Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and insights, your
own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a subject
– When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field
experiments
– When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc.
– When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense
observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical
documents)
– When you are using generally-accepted facts, e.g., pollution is bad for the
environment, including facts that are accepted within particular discourse
communities, e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing is a process" is a
generally-accepted fact.’
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Assumed Knowledge
• The OWL resource concludes, however:
• ‘Generally speaking, you can regard something as
common knowledge if you find the same information
undocumented in at least five credible sources.
Additionally, it might be common knowledge if you think
the information you're presenting is something your
readers will already know, or something that a person
could easily find in general reference sources. But when
in doubt, cite; if the citation turns out to be unnecessary,
your teacher or editor will tell you.’
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Turnitin
• It’s nothing to be afraid of…
• We have developed a series of videos about this.
• PICTURE OF MYUNI RESOURCES
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Thank you!
• Questions?
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